I’ve seen the new biographical movie about Tolkien twice, once at a preview back in March, for which public comment was embargoed, and again upon its release this week, to refresh my memory and not really for any other reason, because otherwise once was enough.
Now it’s out so I may speak, and this comes from my personal blog post on the topic. So I’ll tell you what I said at the preview. When the lights came up I turned to those seated near me and said, “If they’re going to make stuff up, why can’t they at least make a coherent and interesting story out of it?” Only I didn’t say “stuff.”